7 reasons why your Pepper Plant flowers are falling off
Pepper plants have a variety of uses, and are easy to grow if the conditions are right. The flowers are beautiful, and go on to grow Pepper/Chilli Pods to eat. These can sometimes fall off. Below are a 7 reasons why, and some tips to stop it happening.
Above I mentioned that Pepper/Chilli Plants are easy to grow if the conditions are right, and this leads me to the first reason that your flowers might be falling off.
1. Temperature to Hot
This is all based on what variety of pepper/chilli plant you are growing. Some varieties such as Jalapeno, can withstand, and even enjoy a hotter climate. Most pepper/chilli plants do not, and having the temperature too high in your growing situation can lead the plant to drink too much water, and as a survival technique it will then drop flowers, to cut back on the amount of Pods that it produces.
What is the Ideal Temperature and Humidity to grow Pepper/Chilli Plants
Recommended temperature and Relative Humidity for most varieties of Pepper/Chilli:
- Temperature: 21-30 Celcius (70-86 fahrenheit)
- Relative Humidity: 40-50%
2. Container Size
The size of the pot or containers that you are growing in can have an effect on if your Pepper/Chilli plant will drop its flowers/go on to produce lots of fruit.
Due to the nutrients and water available in your growing medium/media, and sometimes in very small pots the space for the roots, the plant will only produce pods that it thinks it can successfully grow in the environment.
Note: This can differ in Hydroponics.
Fix. A Bigger pot will in most cases give your plant a chance to grow more freely.
More room for plant to grow and take up available nutrients and water. Less flower drop. More fruits.
3. Over watering
Pepper/Chilli plants do not like to be over-watered. It causes the plant lots of stress, and without proper drainage (in Soil and Coco Coir growing), the plant will essentially drown.
How to avoid:
If you are growing in soil/Coco Coir, make sure that you choose a pot with drainage holes in the bottom. This will allow the plant to take what it needs, and not end up sitting in water.
4. Excessive Nitrogen
This one can be tricky to measure if growing in soil/Coco Coir, but can be seen on the leaves if it is happening. Look out for yellowing/browning edges on your leaves. This is normally a sign of excessive nitrogen.
We grow all of our Plants including Peppers/Chillies using TriPart from Terra Aquatica, which is balanced out of the bottle. Feed Charts are available for Soil, Hydroponics, and Coco Coir growing mediums. Check out the link below for details.
Download Feed Charts - TriPart (Soil & Hydroponics/Coco Coir)
Subscribe to the Newsletter:
5. Poor Pollination
If your plant is growing outside, this is probably not the cause of your flowers falling off. The elements and insects will take care of pollination for you, by stimulating each flower, and going to the next, allowing the pollen to get onto the stigma in each flower.
If in a grow tent however, you must make sure that you pollinate each and every flower. I would recommend that you do this once a day during the flowering stage of growth. You can use your finger, or as I like to do a small paint brush. Gently twist and brush the inside of each flower, and move onto the next. Be the Bee. See the video below for a demo!
6. Pepper/Chilli Plant simply drop flowers naturally
Pepper/Chilli Plants often over produce flowers to attract pollinators (either Bee’s or a Paint Brush!). The plant will then apply energy to the flowers that were successfully pollinated, and drop the rest of the flowers.
7. Wrong LED Height, Intensity and Schedule (For all the Hydroponics growers)
This final reason only applies to people growing using hydroponics, and with a LED light.
Height, intensity, and Schedule are all very important to get your plant growing, producing flowers, and then growing fruit.
Height, light intensity, and schedule of LED Grow Light for Pepper/Chilli Plants
We use our Urban Grow FS01, and the Height, light intensity, and schedule suggested is as follows:
Germination:
- Hanging Height above plant: 60-76 cm (24 to 30 inches)
- Light Schedule: 18hr on/6hr off
- Intensity: 100%
Growing:
- Hanging Height above plant: 60cm (24 inches)
- Light Schedule: 18hr on/6hr off
- Intensity: 100%
Flowering:
- Hanging Height above plant: 45 - 60cm (18- 24 inches)
- Light Schedule: 18hr on/6hr off
- Intensity: 100%
Producing Fruit:
- Hanging Height above plant: 30- 45cm (12- 18 inches)
- Light Schedule: 12hr on/12hr off
- Intensity: 100%
Note: This last stage can be further manipulated to get your fruit to ripen in a Grow Tent environment. Think of it as emulating the seasons, and the sun doing less. With this in mind, you can either lower the intensity, and keep the rest the same, or raise the height. Both will give the plant slightly less light, making it put more energy into ripening its fruit.
We will be experimenting with these techniques in our Pepper Plant. See the playlist below and Subscriber to follow along.
We grow from seed to Harvest using a DWC Hydroponics kit from Growrilla Hydroponics, a Urban Grow FS01, and in an 90x90x120 grow tent.
Other LED Grow Lights to consider:
Urban Grow FS110 Full Spectrum LED Grow Light
